Find a Book Festival
Scotland is a nation of readers and boasts more than 40 book and literary festivals held throughout the year from Stornoway to the Scottish Borders and from Skye to Aberdeen.
We aim to collate a full, up-to-date list of all the book festivals so please let us know if there are any events that should be included or details to be updated via email on admin@literaturealliancescotland.co.uk or on Twitter @LitScotland.
Happy reading around the nation!
Book Festivals in Scotland
| MONTH | DATE | EVENT | WEBSITE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FEBRUARY | 10-19 Feb 2017 | Winter Words Festival Pitlochry | pitlochry.org | |
| 11-13 Feb 2017 | Further From Festival Linlithgow | @Furtherfrom | maddingcrowdlinlithgow.com | |
| 24-26 Feb 2017 | Granite Noir Aberdeen | @GraniteNoirFest #GraniteNoirFest | aberdeenperformingarts.com/granitenoir | |
| MARCH | 9-19 Mar 2017 | Aye Write! Glasgow's Book Festival | @AyeWrite | ayewrite.com |
| 2018 7-11 Mar | StAnza Poetry Festival Scotland's International Poetry Festival, St Andrews | @StAnzaPoetry #StAnza18 | stanza poetry.org | |
| APRIL | 7-9 April 2017 | Big DoG Children's Book Festival Wigtown | @BigDog_Fest | wigtownbookfestival.com |
| 20-23 April 2017 | BIG LIT: The Stewartry Book Festival Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries & Galloway | biglit.org | ||
| 26 April - 7 May 2017 | TradFest Annual showcase of TRACS tradition arts and culture Scotland, Edinburgh | @TradFestEd | tracscotland.org | |
| 2018 28 & 29 April | Colonsay Book Festival | @ColonsayBookFes #CBF18 | colonsaybookfestival.org.uk | |
| MAY | 4-15 May 2017 | Off the Page Stirling | @CultureStirling | culturestirling.org/off-the-page/ |
| 12-14 May 2017 | Boswell Book Festival Dumfries House, Ayrshire | @bozzyfest | boswellbookfestival.co.uk | |
| 12-28 May 2017 | Southside Fringe Festival Glasgow's Southside | @KeepItSouth | southsidefringe.com | |
| 19-21 May 2017 | Coastward Dunbar | @CoastWordFest | coastward.co.uk |
|
| 26-28 May 2017 | May Festival University of Aberdeen | abdn.ac.uk/mayfestival | ||
| 2018 11-13 May | Ullapool Book Festival Ross-shire, Scottish Highlands | @UllapoolBookFes | ullapoolbookfestival.co.uk | |
| JUNE | 2018 14-17 June | Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival Melrose | @BordersBookFest #bordersbookfest18 | bordersbookfestival.org |
| JULY | 1 July 2017 | Glasgow Comic Con Scotland's Comic Book Festival | @glasgowcomiccon | glasgowcomiccon.com |
| 21-23 July 2017 | Scot Lit Fest Scotland's virtual book festival presented by Saltire Society | @scotlitfest #scotlitfest | scotlitfest.scot | |
| AUGUST | 4-6 Aug 2017 | Bute Noir Crime Writing Festival Isle of Bute | @ButeNoir #butenoir | butenoir.co.uk |
| 7-13 Aug 2017 | Fringe by the Sea North Berwick | @fringebythesea2 | fringebythesea.com | |
| 11 Aug - 10 Sept 2017 | McLellan Art Festival, Arran Celebrating late great Scottish dramatist and short story writer Robert McLellan | arrantheatreandarts.co.uk/mclellan-festival | ||
| 12-28 Aug 2017 | Edinburgh International Book Festival | @edbookfest #edbookfest | edbookfest.co.uk | |
| 26-27 Aug 2017 | Beyond Borders International Festival of Literature and Thought | @BeyondBorders__ | beyondbordersscotland.com | |
| 31 Aug - 2 Sep 2017 | Skye Book Festival | @SkyeBookFest | skyebookfestival.co.uk | |
| SEPTEMBER | 8-10 Sep 2017 | Bloody Scotland Scotland's international crime writing festival, Stirling | @BloodyScotland #bloodyscotland | bloodyscotland.com |
| 11-16 Sep 2017 | Spirit of Moray Book Festival Elgin | @librariesmoray #SpiritofMoray | ||
| 12-17 Sep 2017 | Nairn Book & Arts Festival Inverness | @Nairn_Festival | nairnfestival.co.uk | |
| 22-24 Sep 2017 | Tidelines Irvine, North Ayrshire | @TidelinesFest | tidelinesbookfest.com | |
| 22-25 Sep 2017 | Byres Road Book Festival Glasgow's West End | @byresrdbookfest | byresroadbookfestival.com | |
| 22 Sep - 1 Oct 2017 | Wigtown Book Festival Scotland's national book town's literary festival | @WigtownBookFest #wigtown | wigtownbookfestival.com | |
| 23-30 Sep 2017 | Bookends Benderloch, Oban | |||
| 29 Sep - 1 Oct 2017 | Islay Book Festival | @islaybookfest | islaybookfestival.co.uk | |
| 2018 28-29 Sep | Three Lochs Book & Arts Festival Strontian | threelochs.co.uk | ||
| OCTOBER | throughout Oct | Imprint Book Festival East Ayrshire | ||
| 5-8 Oct 2017 | Ness Book Fest Inverness | @NessBookFest1 | nessbookfest.wordpress.com | |
| 6-8 Oct 2017 | Bookmark Blairgowrie, Rattray & The Glens, Perth & Kinross | @bookmarkblair | bookmarkblair.com | |
| 18-22 Oct 2017 | Dundee Literary Festival | @literarydundee #dundeelitfest | literarydundee.co.uk | |
| 19-22 Oct 2017 | Berwick Literary Festival | @BerwickLitFest | berwickliteraryfestival.com | |
| 20-31 Oct 2017 | Scottish International Storytelling Festival Edinburgh | @ScotStoryCentre | scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk | |
| 25-28 Oct 2017 | Faclan Hebridean Book Festival An Lanntair, Stornoway | @anlanntair | lanntair.com | |
| 27-29 Oct 2017 | Tarbert Book Festival Argyll | @TarbertBookFest | tarbertbookfestival.org | |
| NOVEMBER | 2-5 Nov 2017 | Wordplay Shetland Arts' annual book festival | @ShetlandArts | www.shetlandarts.org |
| 10-12 Nov 2017 | A Write Highland Hoolie! Mallaig's Book Festival | @WriteHoolie | a-write-highland-hoolie.com | |
| week around 13 Nov | Robert Louis Stevenson Day Annual week of events in Edinburgh and online in run up to RLS' birthday on 13 Nov | #RLSDay | ||
| 25-26 Nov 2017 | Cove and Kilcreggan Book Festival Argyll & Bute | @coveburghhall | coveburghhall.org.uk | |
| 27 Nov - 3 Dec 2017 | Book Week Scotland Scotland-wide, brought to you by Scottish Book Trust | @BookWeekScot | bookweekscotland.com |